Respectfully Linda, I have to say I disagree with your comments.  I don't think anyone is saying there isn't a place for CLCs and other helpers on the breastfeeding team.  Just that everyone needs to repersent themselves properly.  As you said yourself, a bookeeper may be a very good bookeeper, but they are still a bookeeper and are not the same as a chartered accountant, nor should they represent themselves as such.

It is considered a criminal offense for an induvidual to impersonate certain proffessions because doing so is a threat to the welfare of individuals involved. This is not unlike CLCs claiming to be on the same level as an IBCLC. People will get hurt. Mamababies will suffer. Just like I respect my SOP and my own personal limitations, referring to someone more experienced when I feel a case is beyond my personal skill set, so should CLCs. Its called ethics. It is unethical to pretend you are something you are not and it is unethical to try to take on a situation that you do not have the education, training, or knowledge to handle.

Yes, there is a place for CLCs and all the other BFing workers (LLLL etc). They can be incredibly helpful in many situations.  However, there are limits to the issues they should be tackling due to their limited education and training.  Sometimes you really need an IBCLC.  And unless an individual has truly met all the criteria, they are not an IBCLC.  And for anybody to try to pass themselves off as an IBCLC is irresponsible. How many mamababies are seeing a CLC who says she is as good as an IBCLC (or maybe even calls herself one) and wonder why breastfeeding still failed even though she got help from a "Lactation Consultant"? In my book, that is someone getting hurt.  They are getting hurt because they are not getting the level of skill they thought they were becasue somebody misrepresented themselves.  And maybe they willl fail at breastfeeding, when they would have succeeded had they been seen by a real IBCLC.  If it wasn't so easy for a CLC to say they are the same as an IBCLC, they would be more likely to hand off when the needs of the case surpass their level of skill.

For many of us IBCLCs, it is a daily struggle for our credential to be recognized for what it is. We are frequently lumped in the same basket as volunteers and other BFing workers. But as you well know, we have worked so much harder, completed so much more education and training, resulting in a much higher level of competency that deserves to be recognized and distiguished from the other levels of competency. This just makes it harder to educate the public about what it means to be an IBCLC.  There is a real difference and as an IBCLC, I intend to be clear about that.  And I think that anybody who allows the waters to be muddied is doing mamababies a disservice.

Jennifer Welch, IBCLC, LLLCL
Montreal, QC, Canada

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